SUMMIT MEETING NOTES

November 12, 2009

Location:  Pleasant Hill Academy

Approved Summit minutes can be found at the following website: collegehilloh.net

ACTION ITEMS

The key action items as agreed to in this meeting are as follows:

Item                                                                                                                   Responsibility           

1.   Determine the correct procedure for getting a streetlight                          Jim Bodmer

and give the information to Paula Sherman.

2.   Follow up on the possibility of Aiken students helping with                    Karen Barrett

the reading program at Pleasant Hill Academy.                                         Paula Sherman

3.   Identify needy families for possible adoption by the staff                        Summit Members

of Children’s Hospital, forward names to Joan

4.   Finalize meeting locations for 2010                                                           Ron Cowgill

ATTENDEES:  (in alphabetical order)

Name                                                               Organization Represented

Karen Barrett                                                  Aiken High School

Pete Bauer                                                       CHCURC

Jim Bodmer                                                     CPOP/COP/Court Watch

Joan Burger                                                     Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Cherese Clark                                                  Pleasant Hill Academy

Ron Cowgill                                                    Facilitator

Leonard Dean                                                 Pleasant Hill Academy

Karen Hartman                                               CHBA

Valerie Hershberger                                        Facilitator

Christina Miller                                               Ministerium, CHPC

Phyllis Schoenberger                                       Forum QOL

Paula Sherman                                                Pleasant Hill Academy

Arnice Smith                                                   CH Library

Tom Strothers                                                 Court Watch, CPOP

Hope Wilson                                                   WIN

AGENDA

Welcome and Introductions

Host Greetings

Opening Prayer

Special Announcements

Previous Minutes Review/Approval

Action Items From Previous Meetings

CPOP/COP/CPD/Court Watch

Housing Team Update

CHBA Update

CHCURC Update

Schools Updates

Whiz Kids Initiative

Library Update

Children’s Hosptial Update

Ministerium

College Hill Rec Center Update

Discussion Topic: Developing Community Pride

Community Activities & Announcements

DISCUSSION:

Pleasant Hill Academy’s Principal, Cherese Clark, greeted the Summit members, and gave a brief summary of academic challenges at Pleasant Hill.   Her information is included below, in the Schools section of this summary.

1.   Special Announcements

None.

2.   Review of October 2009 Minutes
The October minutes will be approved at the December meeting.  Valerie was not able to get them done because she had the flu this past month.

3.   Review of Action Items from Previous Meetings

None identified.

4.   Citizens on Patrol/CPD – by Jim Bodmer

Jim handed out the CPD Crime Report.  He noted that Burglaries are up all over the city, including College Hill.  This is an annual trend, with burglaries increasing every Christmas season.  Citizens on Patrol are considering starting burglary patrols during the month of December, as they did last year.  During this discussion, Paula asked about how to apply for a streetlight, since her street is very dark at night and recently has had several youth hanging out.  Jim promised to follow up and get back to her.

5.   CPOP/Court Watch – by Tom Strothers

Amos and Tom are still active in Court Watch, tracking about 55 cases in Common Pleas.  They go to court 2-3 days per week.  One case they are particularly following up is the recent mugging of a Papa John’s Pizza delivery driver.  The perpetrator was caught, and they are asking the court to give him the maximum sentence allowable. 

CPOP is focusing on the loitering and criminal mischief occurring on Marlowe.  They have moved beyond data gathering into the problem solving phase.   At the most recent CPOP meeting, they developing a list of ideas which might be used to help solve the problems, including asking residents of the area to turn on their lights at night, having residents “loiter” in a positive way in the problem areas, and installation of surveillance cameras.  There will be a meeting next Wed, Nov 18, at 5:30 pm at the Rec Center.  All are welcome.

6.   Housing Team Update – by Hope Wilson

1402 Cedar is under construction, and the goal is to have it finished by the end of December. 

5918 Lantana will begin rehab work in December.

NSP funds were received for 4 houses.  WIN has two of the houses under development, and plans to begin construction next spring.   WIN is looking to acquire two more houses that meet the criteria (must be foreclosed houses). 

Hope also handed out flyers for:

WIN’s free Homebuyer classes.

WIN’s downpayment assistance program.

1402 Cedar home information, including price.

7.   CHBA Update – by Karen Hartman

CHBA has funds to enable additional walking police patrols in the business district, as was done last year.  These will be going on between now and the end of the year.

The Christmas decoration wreaths have been put up on the Avenue.

College Hill Coffee Company will have an open house this coming weekend.  Schwartz Jewelers will have on the following weekend.

CHBA’s next meeting will be Wed, Nov 18, at 8 am at Hammond North.

8.   CHCURC Update – by Pete Bauer

CHCURC has received three proposals for the old cash wash property.  These are being studied.

CHCURC is going to apply again to the CDC for monies to be used for the development of the mid-district of the business area on Hamilton Ave.

The Cedar Meadows property has been declared a public nuisance and has been condemned.  It is going to be demolished.

The annual fund raiser, Guest Bartender Night, will be the 4^th Tuesday of November at Clovernook Country Club.  A week’s use of a condo in Hilton Head will be raffled off.

CHCURC’s Annual Meeting will be February 3.  The location is to be determined.

CHCURC will know next week if it got the CNBD money to acquire the old Saba building.

9.   College Hill Schools Updates

Aiken High School –  Karen Barrett

Because of test results last spring, Aiken lost its “effective” status and is now rated “continuous improvement”.   An analysis of the data showed that if just 9 more students had passed all the sections of the test, Aiken could have gotten an “excellent” rating.

Parent participation has increased significantly, and everyone is seeing this as a positive trend.

Aiken is going to have a school dance for the first time in years because of sufficient ticket sales.  Aiken’s leadership is seeing more pride in the school among the students.

Aiken is also going to have a band for the first time in years.  A band director has been hired, and the next need is to acquire musical instruments.  Paula suggested some key people to contact, including a former band director of Aiken, to help make this happen.

Karen shared that they are looking for “Job Shadowing” opportunities for their GE scholars.  They are looking for a broad range of jobs/careers, from hair styling to management positions.  Anyone who can help should call Karen or LaShanda Chapel at Aiken.

Pleasant Hill Academy – Cherese Clark, Leonard Dean and Paula Sherman

Pleasant Hill Academy remains rated “academic emergency” based on testing this past spring.  Previously, the school had moved up to “academic watch”, but during the year, many students from Schwab School were incorporated, and some of them were not performing at the desired levels.  As a result of the testing result, Pleasant Hill is now part of the “Turnaround Program”, a structured program that guarantees an improvement in test scores if all of their advice is strictly followed for 2 years.   The Turnaround Team comes in once per week and works with the teachers.

The school was very grateful to the community for the donations of school uniforms and money for uniforms.   These have been important for new students.

The school continues to be challenged by the behaviors of at-risk kids.  Their behavioral problems are often a result of issues outside the school, such as hunger, family issues, or even mental health issues.

There are a many activities going on this year.  Tonight (Nov 12) is Family Fun Night.  On Nov 20, they will have a “Mom & Me” day, where moms visit the classrooms and have lunch with their children.  In December, there will be a “Doughnuts & Dads” day.

This coming Saturday (Nov14), Pleasant Hill is having a yard sale.   Some food (hot dogs, soda) will be served.  Donations of things to sell are needed.

Because of the increasing number of grandparents who are parenting their grandchildren, Pleasant Hill has a grandparents focus group every 2 weeks. 

A new Leadership Club has been started for 7^th graders.

There is a program to encourage kids to develop their reading skills by having them read to volunteers.  More volunteers are needed.   Karen Barrett realized that this might be an opportunity for Aiken students, and she will discuss this in more depth outside the Summit meeting with Pleasant Hill staff.

Finally, there will be a Snowball Fest on Dec 12, where the community can bring in their Christmas gifts and get them wrapped for free.

Whiz Kids – by Paula Sherman

The program is going well.  24 kids are participating and there is a waiting list.  In parallel, a Big Brother mentoring program was started with St. Xavier High School  20 kids have been paired with a Big Brother.   There is a need for expanding this program to the older kids (8^th grade).

10. Ministerium Update – by Chris Miller

The Interfaith Hospitality Network will begin hosting homeless families in local churches in January.  The Ministerium is looking for more volunteers to help with hosting these families by helping with such tasks as meals, kids activities, and doing laundry.   They also need donations of beds and bedding.  If you can help or donate, call Chris Miller or Jan Osborn at CHPC, or call Dan Weyand-Geise at 1^st United Church of Christ.

11. Library Update – by Arnice Smith

Arnice reported that circulation rates are soaring, and that she was very glad the levy passed.  The library has added an internet training class starting with the basics, such as how to use a mouse.  Two additional staff are needed and now that the levy has passed, they will be hired.

The primary need of the library is for computers with word processing capability.  Of all the computers they have for accessing the internet, only one has word processing capability and only one is equipped with a sound card.  The Gates Foundation is supplying computers to libraries, but the College Hill branch was dropped from the list for unknown reasons.

The library has many children’s programs, but it’s not as well known that there are many adult and teen programs as well.   They would like to see more adults participating.

The security cameras continue to be valuable.  Recently, tapes from the cameras were used to determine the culprit in a coat theft.

12. Children’s Hospital Update – by Joan Burger

The demand for psychiatric services continues to increase for Children’s Hospital.  15,000 families were served last year as outpatients.  The College Hill campus is again short of space, so Children’s is growing satellite facilities in Mason and West Chester.  All Psych assessments are being routed away from hospitals to the College Hill campus.  Initially, this was because of the H1N1 pandemic, but it may become a permanent way of operating.  The house at the front of the College Hill facility will be taken over to provide more space.

Children’s continues to be committed to good community relations.  The new PNC ATM in the lobby can be used by people in the neighborhood as a safe place to withdraw money.  It is available from 8 am until 9 pm.

The staff is still awed and grateful by the community support last Christmas in providing gift cards for kids when the facility was short of funds.  Cards would be welcome again this year, but the staff wants to give back to the community by adopting a needy family in the community for Christmas.   Please tell Joan of possible families to adopt.

13. Discussion Topic: Developing Community Pride

There was not enough time to have this discussion.

14. Community Activities and Announcements

Ø      The Christmas Bazaar previously scheduled at the Rec Center for Dec 5 has been canceled.

Ø      Light Up College Hill will be Dec 12 and Dec 19.  Luminary kits will be available at the next Forum meeting.

Ø      The new Fire Station dedication will be Monday, Nov 16.

Ø      The next CPOP meeting will be Wed, Nov 18, at the Rec Center at 5:30 pm.

Ø      The CHCURC fundraiser, Guest Bartender Night, will be Nov 24 at the Clovernook Country Club.

Ø      The CHCURC Annual Meeting will be Feb 3.

Ø      Snowball Fest will be Dec 12 at Pleasant Hill Academy.  Bring in Christmas gifts for free wrapping.

Ø      Pleasant Hill Academy Yard Sale is Saturday, Nov 14.

Next Summit Meeting: December 10 @ 8 am at the College Hill Recreation Center. 

                                                                                                Summarized by:

                                                                                                Valerie Hershberger

                                                                                                November 12, 2009

Summit Meeting Schedule

2009

General Meeting Time: Second Thursday of the Month, 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

Location Rotates

Proposed Meeting Schedule for 2010